8 April: US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev signed New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty at Prague, which would reduce their nuclear weapons stockpiles by a third.

6 April:The US administration pledged not to use nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear state that complied with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as per the latest Nuclear Posture Review (NPR).

4 May: The United States revealed for the first time that it possessed 5,113 nuclear warheads in its stockpile, saying the move would bolster arms control efforts.

23 June: US President Barack Obama removed General Stanley McChrystal as the top NATO commander in Afghanistan over a ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine article that portrayed him as being dismissive of senior US officials for their concern about the ongoing war effort.

19 July: While announcing a slew of people-oriented projects for Pakistan under the Kerry-Lugar-Berman economic assistance package in Islamabad, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described her country’s present engagement with Pakistan as an ‘enduring commitment’ that would outlive the war on terror.

28 July: Despite the burgeoning sense of doubt following the WikiLeaks revelations, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill providing $59 billion in additional funding for President Barack Obama’s war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

1 September: In an important policy speech that marked the end of the United States’ combat operations in Iraq, President Obama said that the US paid a huge price in Iraq, and that ending the war was not only in Iraq’s interest but America’s as well.

30 November: A WikiLeaks cable exposed that the United Kingdom and United States had fears about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme, which might lead to fissile material falling into the hands of terrorists, or a devastating nuclear exchange.

Relations with India

17 March: A framework for cooperation on trade and investment was signed by Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma and US Trade Representative Ronald Kirk in Washington D.C.

20 March: Speaking at a conference organised by the Asia Society in New Delhi, US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake called upon India to open up its markets and further liberalise trade policies to strengthen bilateral ties. He mentioned four areas where India should change its laws to make the market more open and receptive to foreign capital: increasing the cap on foreign direct investment, reducing agriculture import barriers, lowering barriers to infrastructure development and reducing regulatory barriers to business.

6 April: India and the United States launched the ‘India–US Financial and Economic Partnership,’ an initiative aimed at easing the entry of foreign capital, especially in the financial and the infrastructure sector.

12 April: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama, accompanied by their top advisors, met in Washington for 50 minutes on the eve of the Nuclear Security Summit and made a fresh push to dispel the clouds of uncertainty hovering over their relationship.

23 April: The navies of India and the United States began annual war exercises ‘MALABAR CY10’ involving anti-submarine warfare surface firings, visit board, search and seizure and submarine operations in Arabian Sea.

3 June: India and the United States concluded their strategic dialogue in Washington by issuing a joint statement across a range of areas that indicated a significant increase in the breadth of collaborative initiatives between the two countries.

8 June: The U.S. government virtually ruled out any further review of the investigation into the Bhopal industrial disaster of 1984, and in particular refused to discuss the extradition of American citizen Warren Anderson, CEO of the Union Carbide Corporation.

9 June: At Washington’s request, the Manmohan Singh government agreed to delete a key provision, Section 17(b) relating to ‘right of recourse’ in the draft Civil Nuclear Liability Bill, which allowed US suppliers to be sued for recovery of damages in the event of an accident caused by gross negligence on their part.

28 June: On the sidelines of G–20 summit in Toronto, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pressed US President Barack Obama to convince Pakistan to take strong action against terrorists involved in anti-India activities in that country, following disclosures made by Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Headley.

23 July:India’s Home Secretary G.K. Pillai and the US ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer signed the Counter Terrorism Initiative (CCI) to forge close and effective cooperation in counter-terrorism, information sharing and capacity building.

30 July: India and the United States signed the much debated agreement on modalities for reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, under the civil nuclear deal between two countries.

21 October: After initially agreeing to delete Section 17(b), Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh denied any possibility of changes in the provisions of the Nuclear Liability Bill, including Section 17(b), which gives Indian operators a ‘right of recourse’ against nuclear suppliers in the event of an accident caused by defective equipment.

6 November: US President Barack Obama arrived in Mumbai for a three-day visit in India. On the first day of his visit, the US announced 20 new bilateral trade deals worth $10 billion.

8 November: US President Barack Obama addressed the Indian Parliament and supported India for a permanent seat in United Nations Security Council. He also announced a lifting of controls on the export of high technology items to India, and supported its membership in multilateral export control regimes such as the Nuclear Suppliers Group. He agreed to expand cooperation in the space, defence, civil nuclear and hi-tech sectors such as biotechnology and nanotechnology.